Things get emotional in this chapter. Get some tissues ready.


End of the Road


It was only a few days before the election and things around the White House were tense. People were scrambling, not knowing how this would end and afraid they would be losing their jobs. It was difficult trying to prepare for what comes next at this stage.

Emily woke up that Thursday morning and came downstairs with Lexie to see her father had left a note for her in the kitchen to say he had taken Karen out for an early morning drive. She was glad her mother was taking some time away from the house, but she knew it was only so she could see things for the last time.

Emily put Lexie down on the floor and she immediately started scampering around the kitchen, her tight brunette curls bouncing along with her. Emily turned the radio on before she went to the fridge to get some breakfast for Lexie. She lifted some fruit out and when she turned back around, she saw Lexie with a huge smile on her face, dancing along the music playing on the radio. She had her bum stuck out and was bouncing up and down and waving her hands in the air.

Emily froze for a second before a huge smile fell on her face and she started laughing. She walked a few steps towards Lexie and started dancing around the kitchen with her, causing the little girl to burst into fits of giggles.

A few moments later, Aaron came downstairs, wondering what all the commotion was about. Lexie and Emily's laughs had radiated through the whole house and it was like music to his ears. He stood in the doorway of the kitchen and just watched as his two favourite girls moved around the kitchen together. It had been a long time since he'd seen Emily so care free and happy and he wished this moment could last forever. They were both radiant as the sun streamed through the kitchen windows and onto them.

He watched as Emily picked Lexie up and held her close as Lexie rested her head on Emily's shoulder, gently swaying to the closing bars of the music with their eyes closed. When the music stopped, Emily turned around and realised Aaron had been standing watching them. She smiled softly at him.

"I forgot how good it felt to just dance it out." She told him as he returned her smile.

It was little moments like this that reminded Emily of the good in her life. The little moments that reminded her she had a lot to be thankful for and that amidst the bad, they would all be ok.


"Emily!" Lorraine shouted through her office as Emily rolled her eyes and walked in the door.

"You bellowed?"

"You're going on the campaign trail through Florida with Aaron, right?" Lorraine asked. "You've been slacking a little on that front, we need to keep up appearances."

"Yes, I will be there..." Emily told her. She knew she hadn't been doing many public appearances with Aaron recently, but she just didn't have the time. She figured one last appearance in a swing state could help.

"Fantastic! People are going to be all over a public Emron love fest." Lorraine said as she lightly clapped her hands. "Also, did you ever give thought to what you would do after the election is over?"

"Well, that all depends on whether I'll be taking on second lady of the United States. I guess then I'll be the dutiful wife and look after my daughter and holding dinner parties..." Emily said with a sharp sense of disdain in her voice. She knew the position offered the opportunity to do some worthwhile work, but she also felt like it could restrict her when she wanted to be in the nitty gritty political side.

Lorraine laughed, "something tells me you were not built for that life. I think like me, you get off on winning. You should consider staying in the game. There's an interesting special senatorial election coming up in Virginia. You should think about it."

"Noted..." Emily said as she left Lorraine's office just as Lenny and Vivienne walked through the halls. Emily smiled widely, "What are you two doing here?" she asked as she hugged her friends.

"We figured you could use a spot of lunch." Vivienne said as she held up some brown paper bags.

"Well in that case, step into my office" Emily joked as they went in and sat on the sofas.

"So, what's new with the wicked bitch of the west today?" Lenny asked as they got their food out. Lorraine had rubbed Lenny and many others up the wrong way since her arrival in Washington and she knew all too well about how she had been torturing Emily.

"She just asked me about my future." Emily told them with a sigh.

"What did you tell her?" Vivienne asked.

"Between taking care of my mom and this campaign I haven't even thought about what comes next which is so unlike me because I am a planner and all I can ever think about is the future but- I am at a total loss." she replied honestly.

"Well you could be the next second lady." Lenny reminded her. "Though, if I'm entirely honest Em, while I think you would be wonderful at it, you're not really the behind the scenes doting wife. You're a firecracker who has fought her way onto the big boy's table and deserves to stay there."

"And you tried the whole do nothing thing when you resigned as Chief of Staff and you winded up right back here so the unemployed, stay at home mom thing isn't going to cut it either." Vivienne added.

"Everything is just so up in the air at the minute. Aaron and I could both be out of jobs in a matter of weeks, what the hell are we going to do then?" Emily added.

"You guys have established yourselves pretty well around here. Something tells me you won't be jobless for long..."

Emily sighed, "God, I hope so."

Emily opened the packaging of her favourite sandwich and immediately turned her nose up at the smell that radiated from it. "God, my stomach has been in knots for the past two weeks I've barely ate a thing."

Lenny and Vivienne raised an eyebrow and briefly looked at each other. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've just been really under pressure with work and mom, it's making me queasy." Emily said as she stood up and walked towards her desk. "I think I have some saltines in here... what?" she asked when she saw Lenny and Vivienne sitting completely still and staring right at her.

"Nothing." Lenny said as she popped a fry in her mouth. "It's just the last time I remember food making you queasy was that time Seth brought you a falafel and you threw up in your trash can."

Emily raised an eyebrow, realising what Lenny was getting at. "Lenny, you can't be serious."

"Oh, come on Em, it's not that much of a stretch." Vivienne piped in. "You said yourself that you and Aaron were thinking about having another baby and you haven't exactly been careful with protection because of it..."

"Now is really not the time for me to be pregnant." Emily said sternly.

"Just because you think the timing is off doesn't mean there's a possibility you couldn't be." Lenny reminded her. "Just take a test, what's the worst that could happen?" she said with a shrug.

Emily flopped back onto the sofa with a sigh. Why did her timing have the be so bad?


The following morning, Emily rushed around the house trying to get herself ready for the trip to Florida. Her brothers were due in town tonight and she had promised them she would be back tomorrow morning to talk to them about what was going on with Karen.

Aaron came into the kitchen looking annoyingly calm compared to Emily's chaotic scrambling.

"Ok, I'm going to go upstairs and get Lexie dressed and pack her things to take to Vivienne and Warner's." Emily told Aaron as he nodded. "You... you look ready, you do whatever."

"Emily, take a breath, please." Aaron told her.

Emily stopped and took a deep breath, "Happy?"

"Ecstatic."

She playfully glared at him before escaping upstairs to get Lexie up and ready to go. As Aaron got his coffee, John walked into the kitchen looking completely defeated.

"Everything alright?" Aaron asked.

"Karen is refusing to take her pain meds." John explained solemnly.

Aaron frowned, "Why?"

"I- I don't know, where is Emily? Maybe she can convince her-" John said as he turned to go and find her.

Aaron stopped him, "Wait, why don't I try?" he suggested. Emily was frantic enough as it was, so he wanted to relieve her stress in whatever way he could.

John nodded his head as Aaron moved past him and into the sitting room.

"Hi Karen" Aaron said as he sat on the armchair beside her bed.

"Oh, hi honey, aren't you supposed to be on your way to Florida?" Karen asked.

"We have a little time before we need to go." Aaron explained as he sat back in the chair. "John was saying you don't want to take your pain meds."

Karen rolled her eyes, "You know what a fog that medication puts me in Aaron."

"Yeah, but it's a painless fog." he reminded her.

"I want to be clear headed when my boys get here and when Emily comes home tomorrow morning so we can talk." Karen said.

Aaron nodded his head once, knowing exactly what Karen was saying. "You know, I think we'll just stay here, we don't need to go to Florida-"

"Oh Aaron you have to be joking, you are going to Florida."

"We can't go to Florida when you won't take your pain meds Karen, family needs to come first."

"I will take the pain meds if it means you will go." Karen told him. "Deal?"

"You promise you'll take them?"

Karen nodded her head.

"Alright..." Aaron mumbled quietly. He moved to stand from the chair but Karen grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Before you go, I wanted to say something" Karen said as Aaron nodded his head and sat forward in his chair, his hand being firmly held by Karen. "When I first met you, I just knew there was something so special about you. Like you were destined to be a huge part of Emily's life."

Aaron let out a laugh, "Even though we were pretending to be a couple when we first met?"

Karen laughed too, "Even so. There was just something about you and something in the way that you looked at my daughter that made me realise you were the one for her. I was always a little pushy about Emily finding a nice man and I know it drove her completely nuts, but I'm glad I did it, because if I didn't then she might never have brought you home to us." Karen said as she fought back her tears, causing Aaron to tear up as well. "You are the best thing to ever happen to her and I cannot tell you how proud I am to call you my son-in-law. You fill Emily with so much light and love and that little girl you made, my god, she is special. She is a little slice of heaven on earth. So thank you for all that you have given Emily and all that you have given our family. We love you so much."

Aaron gulped as a tear escaped from his eye. He had never been a crier, but over the past few months he had never felt more overwhelmed with emotion. Aaron rested his other hand on top of Karen's.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. For welcoming me into your family. I will be eternally grateful for you." Aaron told her quietly. He knew that this was a goodbye talk, even if he didn't want to admit it.

Karen smiled weakly at him. She knew she could leave this earth happily. All four of her children had beautiful families of their own and were thriving in life. What more could she ever want for them?


After a day of rallies and press junkets, Aaron and Emily had reached their final one. Aaron looked across the stage at Emily as the crowd cheered for them. While she had a wide smile on her face, but Aaron could tell she was antsy to get home. He was so proud of her through all of this. She had shown an unprecedented amount of strength over the past few months. In the midst of her own turmoil she had been with him every step of the way. He never felt alone even though she had every right to step back. As he looked at her now, he was overcome with joy and admiration and love that he knew would never end as long as he lived.

"I am only standing here today because of this amazing woman by my side." Aaron addressed the crowd as Emily turned her head to look at him. "My sensational wife, Emily Rhodes."

He held out his hand for her which she immediately took as the crowd cheered for them.

"She has been my rock since the very beginning of this journey. She has been my rock since I was just a teenager. Always pointing me in the right direction, always challenging me to be better, always loving me no matter what. So, thank you Em. I love you." he said sincerely as Emily smiled at him and the crowds continued to cheer.

Emily felt a sense of peace wash over her. All Aaron had to say about her was exactly how she felt about him. He had been her rock in an incredibly rough storm and she wasn't sure if she could have done any of this without him and she was so immensely proud of all he had achieved.

When they stepped off stage, Emily immediately turned around and placed her hands on Aaron's cheeks, "I am so unbelievably proud of you and thankful for you."

Aaron rested his hands on her forearms and smiled softly at her. "I couldn't have done it without you... but I think you should go home."

Emily frowned, "our flight's not until the morning."

"You have done so much for me here. More than you should have and right now, your family needs you."

Emily gulped and nodded as she looked into Aaron's sad eyes. She knew in that moment he knew that Karen's was ready to go tonight and he knew Emily would regret it if she wasn't there.

After a quick flight home, Emily stood by her front door, willing herself to go in. She didn't think she would ever be ready for this, but she didn't have a choice. She had to be strong. She put her hand on the door and slowly pushed it open, dropping her bag and making her way into the sitting room, where she found her brothers and her dad sitting around Karen's bed. They all turned to look at her with tears in their eyes which was all the confirmation Emily needed about tonight.

"Mom" Emily whispered. "Please don't do this." she had to ask one more time.

"Come here baby girl. Come sit next to me." Emily sat next to her mother as Peter sat behind her and Sam and Harry on the other side while John hovered at Karen's head. "Do you know how much I love you four?"

"No, you're going to have to stick around for a while and convince us." Sam told her as Karen chuckled lightly.

"No mother could ever be prouder. I can leave this world knowing I made 4 very special people. Raising you was the best thing I ever did." she told them as they all fought their tears and failed.

"We couldn't have asked for a better mom." Harry said quietly as they all held onto Karen's hands.

"The election is only a few days away, I thought you were going to hold out until after?" Emily asked. All her mother could talk about was seeing her son-in-law become the next vice president of the United States. All Emily wanted was for her mother to live long enough to see it.

"I know baby, I tried, but I can't." Karen told her as she struggled to control her breathing. "I know what I am asking you to do seems awful, but if I could choose how I wanted to go, how I could die happy, it would be peacefully, in the arms of the 5 people I loved most in this world. Only you can give me that. Please give me that."

Emily looked at her brothers who all took a breath and nodded lightly at Emily. They went into the kitchen and decided they would do this together. Peter got the necessary pills, Harry crushed them, Sam mixed them in and Emily... she landed the hardest part of all. She helped her mother drink the concoction while the men in her life sat around her.

"I love you. I love you so much." Emily whispered as her mother finished her drink.

"Thank you, babies..." she said to her children as they all cuddled around her.

"Mom?" Emily whispered quietly as Karen moaned a barely audible yes. "I'm pregnant." she said as everyone's heads shot up, but they said nothing, knowing that this was just a moment between mother and daughter. Karen smiled as brightly as she could and squeezed her daughter's hand as tightly as she could. What wonderful news to be leaving this Earth with, she thought.


A short while later, Emily was lying beside Karen in the bed, while John held onto her hands and the boys sat at the sides of the bed, their hands rested on Karen's legs and their heads on the bed. Suddenly, Karen let out a groan and Emily jumped up.

"Mom? Mom? She's not breathing, mommy" Emily said as she sobbed uncontrollably. "Dad call an ambulance" Emily begged, but he was like a ghost. He didn't move, he didn't blink. "Dad! God, somebody call a damn ambulance!"

Peter nodded his head and called the ambulance. It came swiftly and John rode with Karen while Peter drove his siblings straight to the ER. They ran in and saw a barrage of doctors and nurses trying to resuscitate Karen.

"She's gone into V-Fib, does your wife have a DNR?" the doctor asked John, but he stayed silent and simply stared at his wife's lifeless body.

"Just save her!" Emily begged.

"Does she have a DNR?" the doctor asked again.

"You're a doctor, you took an oath!" Emily bellowed as Harry grabbed onto her to steady her.

"She has a DNR." Sam finally said as the doctors nodded and stepped back from Karen, listening to the machine fall flat.

Emily sobbed uncontrollably and fell to her knees. She had never felt pain like this in her life. She felt like she was being torn in two. Her brothers fell the ground with her and held their little sister as tightly as they could. The whole thing felt like a dream, but they knew it couldn't be, because the pain that coursed through their veins was very real. Their mother was gone and they needed each other now more than ever.


While Peter and Sam stayed with John at the hospital, Harry took Emily home. She couldn't stay there for one more second, she felt like she was going to explode. As they walked into the house, Emily stood and took in the silence. She hated it. She hated it so much. All she wanted was to hear Lexie's laugh and Aaron talking to his mother in loud and practically inaudible Spanish. She wanted to hear James playing which his new airplane, she wanted to hear her brothers playing football in the back yard, she wanted to hear Lenny and Vivienne gossip about the latest scandal from their old high school classmates, she wanted to hear her father talk about his latest clinical trial, she wanted to see Warner take the piss out of something stupid George had done, but more than anything—she wanted to see her mother standing in her kitchen, cooking up a storm, talking up a storm and making outrageous jokes with the humour Emily once hated as a teenager and adored as an adult.

"Have you called Aaron?" Harry asked, breaking her out of her trance.

Emily shook her head, "Not yet."

"Ok... I'm going to go call Louise." he said, referring to his wife. Emily nodded her head and let Harry slip away.

She looked at the remnants of Karen's drug concoction and felt herself start to break down again. Before she could cry, however, her phone started to ring. She looked down at the caller I.D and saw that it was Dontae.

"Dontae, it's not a good time." Emily said quietly as her voice broke.

"Don't hang up." he said quickly. "You were right."

A few months ago, Emily had grown suspicious that there was a mole in the Moss campaign. Somehow, Lorraine was gaining information too quickly and Emily knew something had to be going on, she just couldn't put her finger on what.

"Lorraine definitely has a mole in Moss' campaign. It's his digital guy, Myles."

Emily shook her head, "Dontae, I'm sorry, I-"

"This is way bigger than you thought. If I heard what I think I just heard, the two of them are messing with some seriously illegal shit. Like beyond Watergate illegal. It's called Pegasus. It's Israeli spy software and it lets you read text messages, track calls, collect passwords and remotely turn on a device and record without the owner's knowledge. This is tech that is only supposed to be available to governments to combat terror. This is bad Emily. End of the road bad. You need to get to the campaign office."

"I'm sorry, I can't-"

Dontae continued to ignore Emily, "You have to get to her computer. See if she really has the software."

After protesting further and trying to hold it together, Emily finally agreed to sneak into the office and find what Dontae was looking for. She quickly left the house before Harry asked any questions and made her way round to the office. She briefly looked at her phone before she sat down and saw she had countless messages and missed calls from Harry, Aaron, Vivienne, Lenny, Warner, George—everyone. Harry must have freaked out when he realised she'd left and wasn't answering her phone.

She put her phone down and quickly started to scan through Lorraine's computer. Her initial search came up with nothing, but then she realised she would probably be more discreet than to name the file Pegasus. Soon enough, she found recordings from Moss' phone—recordings that revealed he didn't know about the bioterror attack that the government had just foiled, but were now blaming him due to some of his staff workers being involved. Emily felt like time froze all around her. Kirkman had just gone on national TV and called Moss a terrorist when he wasn't.

What the hell was she going to do?


To be continued...

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